1 00:00:00,850 --> 00:00:03,850 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 2 00:00:03,850 --> 00:00:09,300 The life of the salaf between word and deed. 3 00:00:09,300 --> 00:00:13,439 Self-abasement. 4 00:00:13,439 --> 00:00:20,620 Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said in the sermon he delivered at the beginning of his caliphate: 5 00:00:20,620 --> 00:00:23,719 "I have been given authority over you, though I am not the best among you." 6 00:00:23,719 --> 00:00:26,719 "If I do well, then support me." 7 00:00:26,719 --> 00:00:30,719 "And if I do wrong, then correct me." 8 00:00:30,719 --> 00:00:32,880 Sufyan, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 9 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,880 It reached us that al-Hasan, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,880 "Yes, by Allah, he was indeed the best of them." 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,880 "But the believer abases his own soul." 12 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,140 And Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 13 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:54,619 "If you knew what I know about myself, you would heap dust upon my head." 14 00:00:54,619 --> 00:00:58,619 A man once jostled Salim Ibn Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him. 15 00:00:58,619 --> 00:01:00,619 Salim said to him: 16 00:01:00,619 --> 00:01:03,619 "Take it easy, may Allah have mercy on you." 17 00:01:03,619 --> 00:01:05,620 The man replied: 18 00:01:05,620 --> 00:01:08,650 "I see you as nothing but a wicked man." 19 00:01:08,650 --> 00:01:10,650 Salim replied: 20 00:01:10,650 --> 00:01:12,650 "I do not think you are any better." 21 00:01:12,650 --> 00:01:16,739 Mutarrif Ibn Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 22 00:01:16,739 --> 00:01:19,739 "No one has ever praised me," 23 00:01:19,739 --> 00:01:22,780 "but that my soul felt smaller in my own estimation." 24 00:01:22,780 --> 00:01:26,810 He also said, may Allah have mercy on him, while at Arafat: 25 00:01:26,810 --> 00:01:29,810 "O Allah, do not reject the entire gathering on my account." 26 00:01:29,810 --> 00:01:34,219 Abdullah Ibn Bakr al-Muzani, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 27 00:01:34,219 --> 00:01:37,219 I heard a man narrating on the authority of my father: 28 00:01:37,219 --> 00:01:40,219 That he was standing at Arafat, 29 00:01:40,219 --> 00:01:42,219 and he wept, saying: 30 00:01:42,219 --> 00:01:44,219 "Were it not for my presence among them," 31 00:01:44,219 --> 00:01:47,219 "I would have said that they have been forgiven." 32 00:01:47,219 --> 00:01:49,379 Al-Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 33 00:01:49,379 --> 00:01:55,379 "Thus should the servant belittle his own soul and abase it." 34 00:01:55,379 --> 00:01:58,700 Muhammad Ibn Wasi‘, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 35 00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:01,700 "If sins had a scent," 36 00:02:01,700 --> 00:02:04,700 "you would not be able to come near me," 37 00:02:04,700 --> 00:02:06,700 "due to the stench of my sins." 38 00:02:06,700 --> 00:02:11,250 Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, was reading: 39 00:02:11,250 --> 00:02:13,250 The Book of Rites (al-Manasik). 40 00:02:13,250 --> 00:02:16,250 He reached a hadith which contained: 41 00:02:16,250 --> 00:02:19,250 "Abdullah said: 'We adopt this view.'" 42 00:02:19,250 --> 00:02:23,250 He asked, "Who wrote this from my words?" 43 00:02:23,250 --> 00:02:26,250 It was said, "The scribe who wrote it." 44 00:02:26,250 --> 00:02:30,250 He continued to rub it out with his hand until it was erased. 45 00:02:30,250 --> 00:02:35,729 Then he said, "Who am I that my words should be written down?" 46 00:02:35,729 --> 00:02:39,729 Abu Sulayman al-Darani, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 47 00:02:39,729 --> 00:02:45,729 "If all of creation gathered to lower my status as much as I lower it in my own eyes," 48 00:02:45,729 --> 00:02:47,729 "they would not be able to do so." 49 00:02:47,729 --> 00:02:52,270 A man said to Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him: 50 00:02:52,270 --> 00:02:55,270 "Praise be to Allah that I have seen you." 51 00:02:55,270 --> 00:03:01,530 He said, "Sit down. Who am I? What is this?" 52 00:03:01,530 --> 00:03:03,530 A man said: 53 00:03:03,530 --> 00:03:06,530 "I saw the traces of grief on the face of Abu Abdullah," 54 00:03:06,530 --> 00:03:09,530 meaning Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, 55 00:03:09,530 --> 00:03:12,530 when someone praised him and said to him: 56 00:03:12,530 --> 00:03:16,530 "May Allah reward you with good on behalf of Islam." 57 00:03:16,530 --> 00:03:20,530 He replied, "Rather, may Allah reward Islam with good on my behalf." 58 00:03:20,530 --> 00:03:23,530 "Who am I, and what am I?" 59 00:03:23,530 --> 00:03:29,300 A man asked Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Attab, may Allah have mercy on him, 60 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:32,300 about some issues he had selected and prepared. 61 00:03:32,300 --> 00:03:35,300 He answered him with the best of answers. 62 00:03:35,300 --> 00:03:37,300 The man praised him, 63 00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:39,300 and he said to him: 64 00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:42,300 "O son of my brother, do not make this a habit." 65 00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:45,300 "For had I not reviewed them yesterday," 66 00:03:45,300 --> 00:03:48,300 "I would not have answered you like this." 67 00:03:48,300 --> 00:03:52,159 Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 68 00:03:52,159 --> 00:03:57,159 Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, would often say: 69 00:03:57,159 --> 00:04:01,159 "I possess nothing, and nothing comes from me," 70 00:04:01,159 --> 00:04:03,159 "nor is there anything in me." 71 00:04:03,159 --> 00:04:07,189 He would often recite this line of poetry: 72 00:04:07,189 --> 00:04:10,189 "I am a beggar, son of a beggar," 73 00:04:10,189 --> 00:04:13,189 "and such were my father and my grandfather." 74 00:04:13,189 --> 00:04:17,220 When he was praised to his face, he would say: 75 00:04:18,220 --> 00:04:22,220 "By Allah, I am still renewing my Islam at every moment," 76 00:04:22,220 --> 00:04:26,220 "and I have not yet truly submitted as I ought." 77 00:04:26,220 --> 00:04:29,540 Toward the end of his life, he sent me 78 00:04:29,540 --> 00:04:32,540 a treatise on Tafsir in his own handwriting. 79 00:04:32,540 --> 00:04:36,610 On the back of it were verses of his own composition: 80 00:04:36,610 --> 00:04:39,610 "I am the one in need of the Lord of all creation," 81 00:04:39,610 --> 00:04:43,610 "I am the poor one in all my states." 82 00:04:43,610 --> 00:04:47,610 "I am the one who wrongs my own soul, and it is my oppressor," 83 00:04:47,610 --> 00:04:51,610 "and if any good comes to us, it comes from Him." 84 00:04:51,610 --> 00:04:55,610 "I cannot bring any benefit to myself," 85 00:04:55,610 --> 00:04:59,610 "nor can I ward off any harm from myself." 86 00:04:59,610 --> 00:05:03,610 "I have no master other than Him to manage my affairs," 87 00:05:03,610 --> 00:05:07,610 "nor any intercessor when my sins surround me." 88 00:05:07,610 --> 00:05:11,610 "I possess nothing apart from Him, ever," 89 00:05:11,610 --> 00:05:15,610 "nor am I a partner to Him in even the smallest atom." 90 00:05:15,610 --> 00:05:19,610 "He has no helper to assist Him," 91 00:05:19,610 --> 00:05:23,610 "as is the case with those who hold worldly authority." 92 00:05:23,610 --> 00:05:27,610 "Poverty is an essential attribute of my being forever," 93 00:05:27,610 --> 00:05:31,610 "just as richness is an essential attribute of His being forever." 94 00:05:31,610 --> 00:05:35,610 "This state is the state of all creation," 95 00:05:35,610 --> 00:05:39,610 "and they are all servants coming to Him." 96 00:05:39,610 --> 00:05:43,610 "So whoever seeks a goal from other than his Creator," 97 00:05:43,610 --> 00:05:47,610 "is the ignorant, oppressive, arrogant polytheist." 98 00:05:47,610 --> 00:05:51,610 "And praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds," 99 00:05:51,610 --> 00:05:55,610 "for what has passed and for what is yet to come." 100 00:05:55,610 --> 00:06:00,220 He, may Allah have mercy on him, would draw the righteous poor close, 101 00:06:00,220 --> 00:06:04,220 honor them, keep them company, and be easygoing 102 00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:08,220 with his delightful conversation, more so than with others. 103 00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:12,279 He would even serve them himself, 104 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,279 and assist them by carrying their burdens to comfort their hearts, 105 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,279 seeking thereby to draw closer to his Lord. 106 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,540 He, may Allah have mercy on him, would never grow weary of anyone 107 00:06:24,540 --> 00:06:28,540 who sought a legal ruling or asked him a question; rather, he would turn to them 108 00:06:28,540 --> 00:06:32,569 with a cheerful face and a gentle disposition. 109 00:06:32,569 --> 00:06:36,569 He would stand with them until they were the ones to depart from him, 110 00:06:36,569 --> 00:06:40,569 whether they were young or old, man or woman, 111 00:06:40,569 --> 00:06:44,569 free or slave, scholar or layman. 112 00:06:44,569 --> 00:06:48,569 He would never rebuff them—that is, he would never meet them with speech 113 00:06:48,569 --> 00:06:52,569 that was harsh or cold, nor would he embarrass them, 114 00:06:52,569 --> 00:06:56,569 nor alienate them with words that would cause them distress. 115 00:06:56,569 --> 00:07:00,569 Rather, he would answer them, help them understand, and clarify the error 116 00:07:00,569 --> 00:07:05,689 from the truth with gentleness and openness. 117 00:07:05,689 --> 00:07:10,009 Between word and deed.